I read recently that as many as 5% of auto accidents occur while someone involved is using a cell phone. This information is being used to outlaw driving while using a cellphone in many states. Before i delve into this let me say that i do use my phone while driving so my perspective may be biased.
Another study that i read indicated that driver attentiveness did not improve at all when using a hands free system over a handheld unit. Interesting.
How many accidents do you think happen while somone is changing radio stations, changing CDs, or otherwise messing with their stereo? I’d be willing to bet a much higher percentage than 5%. What percentage of accidents occur while the driver is talking to a passenger? Why is it that our lawmakers are not outlawing music and conversation in our vehicles when both of these probably account for 10 times the quantity of accidents attributable to cell phones.
Don’t get em wrong. I know some people can’t do two things at once. How about having drivers that want to use a phone while driving take another driving test. Perhaps they have to talk on a handheld phone the entire time and then get a special license plate or registration sticker. “I’m a certified driver with a cell phone use permit” Yeah. And i can see one for radio use also.
Helen on 
Cena on 
Tiffany on 
July 7th, 2004 at 9:08 pm
Driving anywhere, after a long stint in Petersburg, is a challenge for me. I often forget that I’m awake. Or my surroundings take on a video game-like surreal quality and I forget the rules. My license was suspended for seven years due to very aggressive MIP-laws in the mid 1990s, so I should probably have some kind of sticker identifying me as an absolute road hazard. Sifting through cds in an intersection is my #1 distraction.
Your 4th of July is getting rave reviews! Wish we could have joined you guys. VERY DISTURBING parade in Wasilla. This isn’t my ‘blog so I won’t expound, but suffice it to say that excepting the impassioned Bush/Cheney supporters and fringe churches with electric guitars and flatbed trucks, there would be no Independence Day parade in the Matanuska Valley.
July 8th, 2004 at 1:15 pm
eating is a worse hazard
July 8th, 2004 at 10:29 pm
i can drive with my elbows and my knees.
July 9th, 2004 at 3:16 am
steering with my knee while i eat with one hand and change the CD with the other while balancing my cell on my shoulder is the best way to go
July 10th, 2004 at 6:34 am
Ya talking on the phone is bad, the worst case is putting on makeup and reading. how many acdidents happen because of those thing? Here in juneau that seems to be the norm.
July 11th, 2004 at 1:51 am
i can hardly drive at all, much less while engaging in other activities
July 11th, 2004 at 8:09 pm
You guys are right. Eating, makeup, reading (i have seen guys with full newspapers out on highways going 65)… cripes. What’s the big deal about talking on the phone? I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said “Guns don’t kill people, drivers with cell phones kill people.” Uh. yeah.
July 14th, 2004 at 6:59 am
i want that sticker… or maybe one that reads: “drivers with cell phones don’t kill people, they kill frogs”
July 15th, 2004 at 5:23 pm
completely changing your clothes while driving…what do you say as the cop walks up to your car to give you a ticket. You’re half naked and alone in the car, trying to get pantyhose on, or off.
July 15th, 2004 at 10:10 pm
it’s a good thing i don’t wear pantyhose, i think it’d be a bit harder to explain to the officer… i like pee bombs and driving myself [try that on the east side highway in nyc durring rushhour traffic when you're going 90mph over massive potholes and humps in the road then around a corner and have to slam on the brakes to a dead stop for hours].